Ambra Health To Launch RADxx Initiative For Women Leaders In Digital Health And Informatics At RSNA

NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ambra Health, makers of the leading cloud-based, medical image management suite, today announced it will launch RAD Women (#RADxx), an initiative focused on fostering networking and mentorship opportunities for women in digital health and informatics, at the upcoming Radiology Society of North America (RSNA) annual conference. RADxx is a great example of what can be achieved when healthcare leaders partner with technology innovators, as it was conceived by Dr. Geraldine McGinty, a practicing radiologist and thought leader in the imaging and informatics space, and Mini Peiris, CMO at Ambra Health. The initiative will launch at a reception held on Tuesday, November 29th at the RSNA conference in Chicago, IL. All women involved in radiology, informatics and IT management of radiology systems are invited to join the group via LinkedIn.

In the American College of Radiology's most recent annual Commission on Human Resources Workforce Survey, women were found to be less likely to pursue a career in radiology than men, with just 21% of practicing radiologists being women. The low percentage of women is not just an issue in radiology and radiology informatics, but maps to a broader trend across the technology and healthcare industries as a whole where women are underrepresented. According to the National Center for Information & Technology, women make-up just 25% of the computing workforce. When these numbers are divided across women within minority groups, the percentages become even smaller.

Dr. McGinty believes that to best address the needs of women and minority groups within healthcare, diverse leadership teams are critical. Dr. McGinty says, "We will be more effective at meeting the needs of our patients if we reflect their diversity . It's critically important that we develop women leaders in informatics and digital health. It is up to women within radiology to mentor and sponsor younger women and continue to inspire and drive them towards realizing their potential."

Dr. Tessa Cook, a practicing radiologist and informatics innovator is looking forward to the launch of RADxx and is eager to help grow the initiative. "Women are strongly underrepresented in radiology and imaging informatics. While we can not pinpoint one single factor, studies have shown that choosing a specialty is often linked to having strong role models in that field. Initiatives like RADxx will help to mentor young women interested in radiology as they plan their careers," said Dr. Cook.

Technology industry veteran Mini Peiris will draw on her experience launching and running successful mentor programs at previous organizations for the development of the RADxx Initiative. She was a founding member of WIN (Women in NetSuite) during her tenure at NetSuite Inc., the tech industry's leading provider of cloud ERP software suites. The charter of WIN was to inspire and grow women leaders and Ms. Peiris served as the Chair for its mentor program. "Ambra Health sits at the intersection of technology and radiology innovation, and is proud to support RADxx in bringing new and more diverse leaders into the informatics profession," said Ms. Peiris, now CMO at Ambra Health.

About Dr. Geraldine McGintyDr. McGinty did her Medical training in Ireland at the National University and then came to the USA for residency at the University of Pittsburgh. Her fellowship was in Women's Imaging at the Massachusetts General Hospital. While working at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, she completed an MBA at Columbia University. She has volunteered in Economics work for the ACR for more than 10 years, and was Chair of the ACR's Commission on Economics and the radiology member of the AMA's Relative ValueUpdate Committee from 2012-2016. In May 2016 she was elected as the Vice Chair of the ACR's Board of Chancellors, the first woman to hold this office. She was until 2013 Managing Partner of a 70 physician multispecialty medical group on Long Island.In 2014 she joined the faculty at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. As well as her clinical practice there, she serves as Assistant Chief Contracting Officer for the Weill Cornell Physician Organization's 1200 members. In 2015 she was voted Radiology's Most Effective Educator by the readers of Aunt Minnie.

About Mini PeirisAs CMO of Ambra Health, Mini Peiris owns go-to-market initiatives and works closely with Ambra's advisory group of physicians, administrative executives, and healthcare IT leaders. She most recently served as the CMO of OpenGov, an Andreessen-Horowitz backed start-up. Prior to that, Mini spent over 12 years at NetSuite Inc. as VP, Worldwide Marketing and VP, Product Management. In these leadership roles, she drove NetSuite's marketing strategy and product direction as they grew from startup to IPO to a $500M+ revenue business. While at NetSuite, Mini was one of the founding Steering Committee members of WIN, NetSuite's women leaders initiative, and designed and launched their mentor program. Mini also serves as a mentor for teams competing in Technovation, an annual challenge which offers girls around the world the opportunity to learn the necessary skills to become tech entrepreneurs and leaders. Mini holds a BS in Cellular Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan and began her career as a research scientist at Janssen Pharmaceutica.

About Ambra HealthAmbra Health is a medical data and image management SaaS company. Intuitive, flexible, scalable and highly interoperable, the Ambra cloud platform is designed to serve as the backbone of imaging innovation and progress for healthcare providers. It empowers some of the largest health systems such as the Mayo Clinic, Stanford Children's Health and Memorial Hermann as well as radiology practices, subspecialty practices and clinical research organizations to dramatically improve imaging and collaborative care workflows. As expert partners, we listen to our customers, understand their needs, and apply our extensive knowledge to deliver innovative medical image management solutions for the future of healthcare, now. Discover what the Ambra medical imaging cloud can do for you at www.ambrahealth.com.